The Computer
by side-fish
Summary: Everybody knows Rhino is addicted to the magic box. Then the computer came along and everything changed.
1. The Computer arrives in Penny's house

A/N: Oh, helloww... After reading a few Bolt fics, I thought it was time I give it a go. My first Bolt fic. Enjoy =).

Disclaimer: I don't own Bolt.

The Computer

Chapter 1: The Computer arrives in Penny's House

As he switched the channels over the 'magic box' with his remote, Rhino slouched like a couch potato. He could not find any new program to watch get glued on.

"Boring…"

In other news, the stock market…

"Lame…"

Let's count to two hundred. Ready?

"Nah."

And that is where babies are born…

"Ewww. Gross." He pressed to change the channel, but it seemed that the remote was no longer responsive. Apparently, it was out of batteries, but a hamster would not really know that. Powerless to change the channel, he forced himself to watch how babies were born. "This isn't right." He started to make a face. Eventually, he could only take so much. "Enough of your lies!" He got out of his hamster ball and went down the couch to approach the television. "Turn off." He said. "Please, why won't you turn off!" He then noticed the wire that was connect to an outlet. He made his way there and unplugged the television. Pretty soon, the television turned dark and fell silent. "I think I've watched too much for today." He then thought of an idea. "I know, I'll go find Bolt and that cat."

He climbed his way back up to the sofa and got back to his ball. He rolled his ball to the ground and was on his way. He started to the kitchen. "Hey Bolt, what are you up to lately?" But no one was there to greet him. The hamster made fuzz. Bolt was not in the kitchen and so were Penny, her mom, Mittens. "They must be outside." He said to himself.

He then went outside to see for himself. "Bolt, this is crazy, I thought you were in the kitchen, but I realized that you're just here eh… you're not here." He said after realizing that they were not outside.

Rhino's eyes widened and hurriedly went back in the house. "Where did they go?" The realization hit him. He was all alone. "I seriously need to stop watching too much on the magic box…" A sound falling to the ground was then heard. It was pretty audible. It sounded like it came from upstairs. He approached the stairs and looked up. He then slowly exited his ball and climbed upward the stairs. The second floor was getting dark. The lights were not on. It felt silent, but he could have sworn he heard the sound from up here. "Bolt? You there?" He slowly made his way to a room with a door slightly open. It was Penny's room. The hamster grew a bit nervous. "Bolt?" He slowly pushed the door and entered the room.

Three weeks ago…

Rhino was watching over the magic box, watching his usual favourite cartoons on the magic box. He then heard knocking by the front door. Penny's mom opened the door revealing a stranger at the front. "Morning Ma'am."

"Is it here?"

"It's being moved from the truck." He then handed over a clipboard and a pen. "Sign here please." She grabbed the pen and wrote her signature.

"Thank you, Ma'am. By the way, the specs are listed here in this receipt."

Rhino wondered about what the fuss was going on when Bolt and the others arrived. "Rhino, what's going on?" Mittens asked.

"I don't know. Must be a package."

Bolt and Penny walked nearer to Penny's mom. "Mom, what's going on?" She asked. Bolt went to the delivery man and sniffed over the man's shoes. "It's the new computer I ordered from the computer store in town."

"We have a computer now?" Penny said excitedly.

"That's right little missy, but only use that for your school work, dear. Anyway, I got it from a bundle, uhm… sir, can you tell me what I bought again."

"Yes ma'am." The delivery boy replied. "You ordered the PC bundle with the MAD Phenom-2 X-4. 2.80 gigahertz with the NVIDEO 9800GT 1 GB VRAM ddr3 256-bit memory bus. A 500 GB EasternDigital SATA harddrive 7200-rpm. 4 GB ddr3 RAM. A Gigabit motherboard, and other PC accessories."

Penny and her mom looked puzzled. "What?"

"Wait a minute. That sounds expensive, are you sure this was what I ordered? I thought I ordered an office computer."

"Yes ma'am, it's the only bundle we have, coupled with our store promo, 50% slash on all prices, you get a performance computer for the price of an office computer."

"Oh."

Later, Penny and her mom watched as the technicians installed the brand new computer in Penny's room. "Sorry Penny, I could've sworn I got us an office computer."

"It's okay, mom. I don't mind. I mean, I'd sure love to play once in a while."

Just outside, the pets watched on looking at how things were going. "Mittens, what is that?" Bolt asked.

"It's called a computer Wags. It's where people do some computing stuff, play games, watch videos and all that."

"I don't know cat. It looks like a magic box to me." Rhino said pointing toward the LCD monitor.

"Yeah. It's kinda related to the magic box, except it does more."

"Interesting." Rhino said with a somewhat evil smile.

"Okay ma'am. The installation is complete. Oh and before I forget, here's the complementary game that came with the bundle." The delivery guy handed the game to Penny.

"Zombies4Life?" Penny said, reading the title.

"Yeah, it's a game where you're like one of the four survivors of a zombie epidemic and you like shoot zombies, you know, for fun."

"Really?"

"Yep. It's also one of the best games of the year. You should try it out." He then got his tools and headed to the door. "My work is done. If you have any problems, our number is at the receipt. We also have a one-month replacement policy."

Penny then looked at the game she held on her hand. "Zombies?"

Morning came and after installing the game, Penny thought that maybe she could have fun kicking some zombie butt. She finally makes it on the first chapter of the game. The character she played was a female character. A helicopter comes above them but is unable to see them. "If we can find something to signal the helicopter, then we'd sure be saved." Her character said. They started walking through an empty rural road and pretty soon the zombies started hording towards them. Penny tried the best she can spraying bullets everywhere while her AI teammates were doing the same. After entering a safehouse, she paused the game.

"Wow, this is even better than acting on the Bolt show." She said.

Soon her mother from the kitchen yelled to her. "Honey, come down here before the school bus arrives. You don't wanna be late for school."

"Coming mom." She said grabbing her stuff and headed down. Unknowingly, she left the computer on.

After just seconds of idleness, it was the pets' turn to wonder on the mysteries of the computer as they enter Penny's room. Rhino went up to the table with Bolt's help. He rolled the ball toward the screen. "Okay Rhino, get ready for one awesome computer session!" He said. "Computer, activate!" He ordered, waiting for something to happen, but nothing seems to be moving.

"Oh brother. Rhino, you gotta press the keys on the keyboard and move the mouse for it to move." Mittens instructed.

"You mean, I gotta move with… my hands?"

"What were you expecting, genius."

Rhino looked at his hands. The keyboard was over there. The mouse was over there. Keyboard, Mouse, Keyboard, Mouse, Keyboard…. "Hey, my hands aren't long enough."

"Oh brother." She approached the monitor. "See that. It says press esc to continue." She then moved to the esc key and pressed it. The game continued as it did.

"Great." Rhino said ecstatically. "So what now?"

"I don't know. I don't know how to play this game." She then jumped to the floor and walked out. "Hey, where are going?"

"This is your thing Rhino, but not mine." She then looked at Bolt. "Wags, you comin'?"

Bolt looked at Rhino and looked at Mittens. He then looked back to Rhino. "Sorry Rhino, but I don't think this is my thing either." He said jumping out and the two were now out of the room. Rhino sat in front of the keyboard and faced the monitor. "Okay then. Looks like it's just you and me, buddy." He stood high and mighty facing the computer. "I, Rhino the hamster, will find a way to master the computer! "


	2. Bolt tries out the new game

A/N: Thanks for the positive feedback. So I guess it isn't so secret, but yeah, Zombies4Life is directly based on the zombie-shooter Left 4 Dead, while MAD is based on AMD, NVIDEO to NVIDIA, EasternDigital to Western Digital, and Gigabit to Gigabyte. Just thought you'd know =). Anyway, the story isn't really that long. That said, I also don't want it to be cut-throat short. Plan to finish everything within the Christmas break. Anyway, thought of releasing chapter 2 a little early, so enjoy =).

Chapter 2: Bolt tries out the new game

Bolt and Mittens were outside playing around the grassy fields. It felt good for Bolt to feel the open air rushing through his fur. Mittens played the usual fetch the stick to Bolt. Bolt never seems to get tired of this, though. Bringing a stick back, only to be thrown away again. It was the simple life, but something was bothering Bolt. Bolt looked at the house, specifically at window of Penny's room. Bolt could see the faint lights of the new computer. Could Rhino still be there? It was already afternoon and Rhino still has not gotten out of Penny's room. Mittens noticed Bolt looking at the house. "Something wrong, Bolt?"

"It's Rhino. He hasn't left Penny's room."

"What's to worry about? We never worry about him when he's on the television. Why should we worry about him on the computer?"

"I'll just check on him, just to be sure." He swiftly went on his way to the house.

At the second floor, Bolt slowly opened the door and peeked through Penny's room. "Rhino?"

"Hey, Bolt." Rhino did not even look back to Bolt.

"You still playing that game?"

"Uhuh."

Bolt then jumped to the chair then unto the table. "Looks like you got the hang of this game, huh?"

"Uhuh."

"Rhino?"

Rhino just looked at the monitor, his hands and legs swiftly moving the keyboard and mouse that it wonders even Bolt how he managed to do it with short hands and legs. Bolt then waved his hand right in front of him.

It obstructed Rhino's view and he gave out a negative reaction. "Hey, quit it. I can't see what I'm shooting. I need to see those zombies so that I can headshot them in the face."

"Rhino, will you look at me for a sec?" He then grabbed Rhino and started shaking him. He left control of the keyboard and mouse, succumbing to being zombie-eaten. The game was over and the level restarted.

Finally, Rhino snapped of his game. "Bolt, what's the matter? I'm just trying to enjoy a good game here."

"Rhino, there is more to life than just computers and the magic box."

"You don't understand. I know. You should try it Bolt."

"Nah, I really don't want to get over-obsessed with…"

"Come on here." Rhino, handed the mouse and keyboard over him.

"I really don't want to."

"Come on. Just try one game for me, please..." He then tried to do that puppy face he saw Bolt always do. It was not as good, but it seemed to convince Bolt.

"Alright, Rhino. Just one."

"Yes."

Now, Bolt was in control. He moved his character forward and pretty soon, a zombie horde started running toward him. Bolt panicked. "What should I do?"

"Switch to your shotgun!"

"My what?"

"Press the 1 key!"

Bolt pressed 1 key and pretty soon a shotgun popped up. "Now what?"

"Hit the left mouse button."

He left-clicked the mouse and a big boom from the shotgun blasted the zombie hordes away. He kept blasting the shotgun until the zombie horde was no more. Bolt paused the game. His fur was raised, his heart pounding fast from the tense action that he just witnessed before him.

Rhino looked up to Bolt. "Well…?"

Bolt looked down. "Rhino, I can't lie. This game is… is… is awesome!" Bolt quickly unpaused the game and continued to play.

Rhino was pleased. "I knew you had it in ya' Bolt. You are after all, the legendary hero."

"Uhuh."

Rhino looked at Bolt. "Okay. So, my turn?"

"What's that?" Bolt murmured. His eyes focused directly on the screen.

Rhino wanted to play, but he did not want to disturb his hero. "I guess I won't disturb you." He came back to his ball and jumped to the floor. "I'll be downstairs watching some toons."

Rhino was now back at the sofa. He missed being a good old couch potato and now, was back to just watching. Soon after, Mittens arrived in the living room and spots Rhino on the couch. "Hey Rhino, where did Bolt go?"

"Oh, I just let him play around the computer."

"I don't believe this. You finally poisoned his mind, didn't you?"

"Poisoned his mind with sheer awesomeness!" Rhino exclaimed.

"Uhh… whatever. I guess I'll check on him to see if he's okay." But as soon as she said that, Penny arrived in the house. "Guys, I home."

"On second thought. I think I'll just laze around and let Penny do the work."

Penny came close to her and lifted Mittens to her arms. "Hey Mittens. How's my wittle kitty. Say, do you know where my Bolty-wolty is?" Mittens just gave a meow. "What? Oh right, I forgot to close the computer."

She rushed her way upstairs and hurried to her room to find that it was on the way she left it. "Okay, then. It's time for some zombie-action." Little did she know Bolt sneaking out of the room.

Mittens and Rhino were now on the sofa watching… something. "So what's on?" Mittens asked.

_We're beginning to see some showers and thunderstorms across Central US with slight chance of_…

"I don't know."

"So what else is on?"

"Hang on, let me change the channel."

Pretty soon, Bolt had come downstairs and entered the living room to which Rhino notices. "Hey, so how's my zombie-kicking partner?"

"Rhino, that was the most intense thing I've ever done. I've never felt so alive, even back when I was starring in my own show. I can't wait to play it again."

"Uh. Wags, I don't know how to tell you this, but Penny's gonna notice that you played on her computer."

"Nah, I made sure I left it just the way it was."

Back at Penny's room, Penny finally finished the whole campaign, but things seem kind of whack when the game statistics went out.

Number of times incapacitated 26

Number of deaths 17

Number of times restarted 17

"I don't remember dying that often."

Mittens was a bit worried to where this was going and approached Bolt. "Bolt, come on. That's just a game. Don't take it too seriously."

"I know Mittens. I'll try not to."

Later that evening, Bolt was wide awake in front of the computer playing on Penny's new computer. Penny and Mittens were sound asleep and he made sure he did not wake them up. His eyes focused on the monitor. Eyes just focused on killing zombies. "Must kill zombies." He pointed the mouse over some zombie's head and started blowing it away. "Must… kill…" The night went on with some high-octane zombie shooting.


	3. Bolt succumbs to the computer

A/N: Thanks for the reviews again =). I had fun writing the past two chapters and so are the next few. Anyways, thought I'd just drop by to update the fic. Enjoy the holidays. Speaking of Holidays, I'll hopefully make an update for Christmas =).

Chapter 3: Bolt succumbs to the computer

The next day…

Bolt was out in the garden trying to keep his eyes wide open. He was restless. He slept late last night playing Zombies4Life. He never had so much fun in playing a game. It was like the same addiction back when he was in the studio. Perhaps it all felt so real and that was the appeal. Bolt was slowly losing the battle to stay awake.

"Mornin' wags."

Bolt's head rose from being startled. "Target acquired." He then realized it was Mittens.

"Uh… Bolt? What are you doing?"

Bolt then realized that he was pointing toward Mittens an air gun (similar to an air guitar if you know what I mean). A bit embarrassed by what had happened, he hid his paws. "Nothing."

Mittens looked a bit closer. "You look terrible. Did you sleep?"

"I'm fine Mittens."

"I can't believe this. You played the whole night, didn't you?"

"No, Mittens I…"

"Hey there, Bolt." They both look seeing Penny come closer. Penny squat down looking at Bolt "How's my silly doggy? You wanna come and… Bolt, are you okay?"

To hide the stress, Bolt made a cheerful bark and tried to climb through Penny's lap and slobbered around her face.

"Alright, Alright, Bolt. Okay, I'm off to school. See ya' later Bolt, Mittens." She said as the school bus stopped in front of her. She climbed to the steps. The door closed and the bus was now off. Bolt and Mittens watched the bus leave. When the bus was gone, Mittens tried to console Bolt, who she thought was still beside her.

"Bolt, you gotta stop playing before it takes over your life." Mittens explained. "Bolt? Bolt?" She looked beside her, but Wags was no more.

Back at Penny's room, Bolt was up playing once more. At his back, Mittens just watched as her friend was slowly succumbing to the computer. Mittens just breathed a sigh of disappointment and made her way downstairs.

Back down, Mittens made her way to the living room, only to be greeted by another pet glued to the magic box.

_Iraqi police were met with insurgent fire over a nearby city in Baghdad. Around noon local time, the US Marines reinforced the local police. Casualties have yet to be reported_… _It's got to be an infection. It's got to be meningitis. Do an LP to confirm_… _St. Elmo's fire lit up the whole of the plane in a bright glow. Unknown to the pilots, this was only the beginning for Flight 9_…

"I've seen that a million times already."

Mittens approached the hamster. "Rhino, notice anything strange about Bolt?"

"No, why do you ask?"

"Aw come on, Rhino. Not even a teeny bit?"

"No."

"Oh what do you know?" She said leaving the living room. "You guys are all the same anyways."

"Yeah, see you later cat." He said, eyes not leaving the television set.

Outside the house, Mittens could not help but rant about what has happened. "Those two, you know what, I can move on, even if I'd do it all by myself."

One week later…

Bolt was still glued to his seat, shooting ever more zombies with each passing day. Unknown to him, Mittens was observing him from the outside through the window. She could see his face. His eyes wide and red from overuse. And yet, he does not seem to stop. The only thing good about Bolt is that he never gives up on something. And here he is, totally misusing that trait. She then suddenly saw Bolt bark violently toward the monitor, apparently, his character got zombie-eaten. Later that night, she was eating the food on her bowl and noticed that Bolt's dog bowl was still full. He has not come down yet. When he finally did, something was throwing him off. He apparently got in a bad gaming session where he died a lot. His mood could be felt around, Mittens did not even ask what was wrong on the fears that he would react violently. Bolt just ate. His eyes wide open to any slight movements. Where ever he heard sound, his head followed. He was apparently becoming a little paranoid and Penny took notice. "Is there something wrong, Bolt?" but Bolt just smiled and continued to eat.

Two days later…

Mittens could hear Bolt finally going back to Penny's arms on the bed after gaming for four hours straight after Penny's lights out. Later in the night, Mittens woke up to the noise of Bolt growling in his sleep. Apparently, he was having a really bad dream. Bolt did not have any more ammunition and was now being chased by zombies. It was funny considering that the secondary weapon, pistols, had unlimited ammunition, but Bolt never figured out how to use the secondary. Mittens tried covering her head with a pillow and tried to sleep for the rest of the night. The growling suddenly turned to howling. Penny actually woke up during the night and tried comfort her dog. "It's okay, Bolt. You were just having a bad dream." Mittens just looked at the two and gave some comfort in her eyes knowing that Penny had somehow calmed Bolt down.

The next day did not come long. They were all up, including Bolt. Bolt sat still on the grassy garden field. His eyes focused on nothing and front legs shaking. His guard must have been down because he did not even notice the ball Penny threw towards him. It smacked his face and knocked him off the ground. "Bolt!" Penny yelled.

At the vet, the doctor waved a flashlight over Bolt's eyes. Bolt seemed fine, the doctor summarized, though he was suffering from a lot of stress. Penny did not understand how that could have happened. She did notice that Bolt seemed a little tired too often and wondered what could have caused him to be so.

Two days later…

Rhino has surfed through about 100 channels now, and he still could not find a decent channel to be glued on.

Two days later…

Mittens threw a stick as far as she could. "Go fetch it, Bolt." She looked behind her and he was not even there. "Oh yeah." Mittens sighed. Ever since that new computer, the situation has gone absolutely ridonculuos.


	4. Three weeks later

A/N: Hello and Merry Christmas to everyone... well at least Christmas has struck on our side of the planet. Anyway, Christmas update =). It's pretty short though.

Chapter 4: Three weeks later...

It was a nice sunny morning, but not all is good in the house. Penny approached her mom with a bit of worry. "Mom, I think we need to take Bolt to the vet again."

"We just sent him to the vet a few days ago."

"Yeah mom, but I think he's lost his appetite or something. He won't eat the food I gave him."

Penny's mom looked at her daughter and gave her a tight hug. "Don't worry sweety, everything's gonna be okay." She then let go and grabbed her car keys. "Where are you going?" Penny asked.

"Back to the computer store. Turns out they've extended the 50% sale to a month and I'm going back there to buy us a printer. Take care honey, you be good in school. Love you." She said and she was gone. Penny looked at Bolt and gave a deep sigh. He still had not touched his food. Penny then slowly walked to her dog and gave him a tight hug. "I'm worried for you Bolt." She then let go as she slowly walked away. She faced him one more time. "You take care." She then walked to the exit door leaving for school.

After seeing his person leave, Bolt looked over at the food in his bowl. It looked odd to him for some reason as if it all suddenly seemed so different to him. He was no longer accustomed to the food he had been eating all the time. "You know, Bolt, you gotta eat something."

"Mittens, aren't you worried?"

"About what?" Mittens asked.

"You know, if the food you're eating… has the virus."

"I beg your pardon."

"The virus that turns you to a zombie."

"Oh, for the love of… Bolt, you are so gullible! The game you're playing is fake! There's no zombie apocalypse, no infection."

"What do you know, Mittens? For all you know, they could be out there."

"This is ridonculuos! You know what? You need a break from that thing. It really is liquefying whatever brains you have left." She exclaimed and left.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"You know what Bolt, forget it. If you want to get used to that life, then I won't stop you." She left, mumbling something about losing her appetite.

"Well you know what, who needs you!" Bolt yelled. "When the zombies start crawlin', don't come your way back to me!" He said while continued his way up toward Penny's room.

Mittens head out for the house exit broken-hearted. She felt replaced. Moreover, it felt that Bolt replaced them all over just for an appliance. As she left the house, Rhino was still glued to the television.

"… _So doctor, what you're saying is that stressed out people have a bigger likelihood of developing sleep disorders._

_Well Ted, we've got a new generation of people who stay up late playing computer games all night. It's definitely no wonder why the number of people with sleep disorders is rising in the country._

_What kind of sleep disorders can we expect from these sleep-deprived people?_

_Any, insomnia, sleep terrors, somnambulism, you name it_…"

"Oh please, as if." Rhino laughed about it. He then thought of changing the channel.

_It was here where Albert Einstein first discovered_…

"Boring…"

_In other news, the stock market_…

"Lame…"

_Let's count to two hundred. Ready?_

"Nah."

_And that is where babies are born…_

"Ewww. Gross."

Present Day…

"Where did they go?" The realization hit him. He was all alone. "I seriously need to stop watching too much on the magic box…" A sound falling to the ground was then heard. It was pretty audible. It sounded like it came from upstairs. He approached the stairs and looked up. He then slowly exited his ball and climbed upward the stairs. The second floor was getting dark. The lights were not on. It felt silent, but he could have sworn he heard the sound from up here. "Bolt? You there?" He slowly made his way to a room with a door slightly open. It was Penny's room. The hamster grew a bit nervous. "Bolt?" He slowly pushed the door and entered the room.

A/N: Oh, cliffhanger. I could've sworn I've forgotten how to do one lol. Anyways, enjoy the holidays =).


	5. Somnambulism

A/N: Hello guys. It's almost gonna be 12:00 here and Christmas is apparently going to be over on our side of the planet. Though its probably still morning in America, so thought I'd make another Christmas update you know, to make up for the Cliffhanger. You need not really wait long to be honest. Anyway, thanks for the positive feedback for my fanfic so far. It's actually funny how I call it feedback and not review. To be honest, most reviews I get are feedbacks, which is great. Then there are the people who do make a review. I'm actually a bit afraid of those people because they really disect your story like a frog, but it's cool to get them once in a while. Again, thanks for the positive feedback and Merry Christmas once more =)

Chapter 5: Somnambulism

Rhino opened the door gently and went inside the room, but no one was there to greet him. The computer, was oddly on, but he could have sworn he heard Bolt here.

He slowly climbed his way back up to the computer and noticed the screen was still on the game. "That's odd. Where did Bolt go?" He wondered. Then somehow he felt that he was not alone. A big swoosh ran across from the table to the bed. It was so fast he could not find time to react. "Bolt, is that you?" Another swoosh, this time at his far left. He tried to look at the figure, but his head was too slow. "Cut it out Bolt, I'm serious." Another swoosh. This one felt closer. "Bolt, you can stop now." Rhino slowly backed his way toward the door. He finally reached it, but as he opened the door, he was surprised to see Bolt just outside. "Hey Bolt. How's it going?" Bolt was unfazed. He did not mutter a word. Silence was his response. Rhino slowly tried to leave the room, when Bolt suddenly spoke. "Target acquired." He pointed towards Rhino. Rhino looked back, but wish he had not when he saw Bolt running full speed with his four legs. "Oh boy."

He ran as fast as he could to the stairs down to the kitchen. Bolt followed with lightning quick movement. He is Bolt afterall. "I'm gonna get you zombie!" Bolt stopped for a moment beside a table with a vase, before heading off to the living room. Unknown to him, Rhino hid inside the vase. "Okay, maybe he has gotten a little too far with the computer." He suddenly felt violent shaking. Bolt found where he was. "I know you're in there zombie." Bolt suddenly dropped the vase which shattered to the ground, revealing the rodent. Bolt put his paw over Rhino's belly, effectively immobilizing him. "Any last words zombie? If at all, you have any brains."

"Bolt, it's me, Rhino! I'm your partner." He tried to convince him, even looking through his eyes but something was not right, he did not even seem to listen. "Wait a minute." He then noticed something odd about Bolt and his eyes gave it all away. Apparently, his eyes were not so focused on him. Though it was not obvious, it seemed like it was slightly moving left and right in an almost rhythmic way when he was close to his face. Rhino waved his hand left to right wondering if he would even notice, but he just faced at him. It then occurred to him what just happened.

…_we've got a new generation of people who stay up late playing computer games all night_…

… _sleep disorders can we expect from_…

… _rising in the country_…

… _insomnia, sleep terrors, somnambulism_…

…_ somnambulism_…

"That word seems familiar." He murmured.

… _somnambulism_… _somnambulism_… _somnambulism_…

"Some-man… Sun man… So-whatbullism."

… _somnambulism_… _It's sleep walking genius_!

"Wait, did I just imagine…?"

"Rhino, heads up!" Mittens suddenly appeared from nowhere bumping Bolt off his paws, freeing Rhino. Bolt hit the table, which knocked over, dropping the lamp that was on it.

"Mittens, you saved me." Mittens looked at Bolt, who was now back up. "No time for thanking. Just hope in." Rhino jumped over Mittens' back and the two were off in a wild cat-dog chase, knocking some stuff along over the kitchen and the living room, the kitchen again. Rhino was pleased that the magic box remained unaffected. Mittens was finally losing steam. "I don't get it. That dog doesn't seem to get tired no matter how fast we run."

"Uhh… Mittens…"

"And why is he chasing us like this? I mean, doesn't he recognize us?"

"Mittens, there really is something you need to know."

"And why am I even letting you ride? I don't like you that much."

"Okay, that was uncalled for cat. But you were right, I guess something is a little bit off with Bolt."

"Gee, ya' think."

"Yes, but Bolt needs our help."

"Excuse me? Bolt is chasing us like we were his favorite chew toy. I'm pretty sure we're the ones that need savin' right now."

"You don't understand. Bolt is sleepwalking."

"Sleepwalking! He's doing some pretty fast sprints. I think sleepwalking is an understatement. And why in the world is he sleepwalking!"

"He must have dosed off while playing." He said. "What do we do now?"

Mittens thought hard passing through the front door. "I got an idea. But we need to split. Keep him busy for me."

"What?" But it was too late. Mittens dropped Rhino to the ground as she head toward the pet entrance to go outside.

"Thanks for leaving me to die, cat!" He said running for his life. His tiny legs were no match for Bolt's. He then thought of something that may just save his life. He ran to the stairs. To his surprise and joy, his ball was still there. He quickly made his way to the ball which he got in just in time before Bolt got to him. The ball was not closed though so he could accidentally slip and fall to the hole outside. Bolt tried to grab hold of the ball with his mouth. It was a good thing that this was as close as Bolt could get to Rhino. Rhino was safe.

"Hey Wags." Mittens was now back in the house. Bolt squeezed on the ball which slipped, rocketing to the ceiling fan.

"Look what I got." Mittens said revealing an old past time toy, the stick, but Bolt did not seem faze and was ready to charge to Mittens. "So that's how you want to play, huh?"

As Bolt was charging towards her, she threw the stick with all her might to whack Bolt in the head. It stopped him for a while as it knocked him out. "Always wanted to do that." Bolt slowly got back up and Mittens approached him. "Bolt? You awake?"

Bolt slowly looked at Mittens. "Target acquired." Mittens pulled herself back to the living room. "That must be one deep sleep you're in, huh Bolt?" She slowly stepped back cornered. Bolt was now in the middle of the room, ready to pounce on Mittens. Suddenly, Mittens heard small creaking noises. She looked up seeing Rhino was unscrewing the last bolt holding the ceiling fan in place. "This is going to hurt me more, than it's going to hurt you." The last bolt was unscrewed, leaving the fan plummeting down with Rhino on top of Bolt.

WHACK!

After the dust settled, Rhino emerged from the wreckage to meet with Mittens. "Hey Rhino, glad you made it out alive."

"You too cat."

They then heard movement from the ceiling fan wreckage. Bolt had slowly emerged from the fallen fan. The two were stunned and they did not come close after what just happened.

Bolt was limping towards Rhino and Mittens. He had several bruises, a badly fractured left back paw. He even seemed to have gotten a huge bump on his forehead and a black red right eye. Rhino and Mittens were now afraid as he walked closer. Was that not enough?

"Mittens? Rhino?… ow… what the… ow… heck happened?"

"You were sleepwalking." Rhino replied.

He tried to feel his forehead with his right paw. "Ow, my head hurts."

Moments later, the three pets were now still in the living room as they watched some good old-fashioned cartoons, enjoying some laughs, but Bolt was not laughing. Though Bolt had adjusted to the pain, he did not feel good after what had happened. "Mittens?"

"Yeah, Bolt?" She asked.

"I… uh… you were right. I let that game take over my life and… and I nearly brought you guys in danger. I should've been more careful. I…"

"It's okay, Wags. Rhino and I are just happy that you're back to your old self."

Bolt smiled. "Thanks."

"No problemo. Just promise you won't go near that computer again."

"Mittens, I don't think I'll be going anywhere near the computer for a long time."

"Good. Now let's just watch some television, shall we?"

The three just watched television, when Penny and her mom came home and entered the front door.

"What in the world!" Penny's mom yelled.

Apparently, the house was still the disaster stricken area that they had left it.

"Bolt, Mittens, Rhino, did you do this?" Penny's mom raised her voice in sheer surprise.

Mittens and Rhino both looked at Bolt. "Do it." Mittens said. Bolt nodded. He slowly hopped to the ground in pain limping towards the two. "Mom, Bolt's hurt."

"Bolt's hurt? What about the house!"

Bolt then dropped both his ears and looked up just ever so slightly with those puppy eyes. Coupled with the broken leg and the bruised eye, it was pure epic. "The dog face at its finest." Mittens said.

Penny's mom looked at it and could not resist. "[sigh] Figures. Let's just take the dog to the vet."

Penny smiled as they picked poor Bolt up and headed back to the car.

A/N: Sigh. Funny how this fic is almost over as soon as it started =(. If only it could go on forever. One more chapter to go! Thanks for sticking on to me up to this point =).


	6. The End Game

A/N: Last chapter guys =).

Chapter 6: The End Game

The house was eventually restored to its former self with some renovations. After the incident, however, Penny's mom was now ever more vigilant to the three pets. After what had happened, she kept an eye to them more often just in-case they go on breaking the house again. As for Bolt, it had been a month since the accident and Bolt has never gotten back to the computer. Penny was glad that Bolt had slowly recovered from his injuries. He had also gained some much needed rest, turning back to his cheerful, fun-loving self. He was doing fine now. They played all day and all night… on weekends, while Penny did her homework with the computer on weeknights. Bolt was going to have to get used to having Penny not play with him on weekdays. Then again, there was always Mittens to play around with. And as for Rhino, still the same couch potato, watching cartoons on morning and action series by night fall. Penny's mom has never seen a hamster watch so much television in her life. One less pet to look out for, she thought. Life, pretty much, went back to the way it was, as if nothing even happened… well, except for the computer of course.

One day…

"… _Living is easy with eyes closed/ Misunderstanding all you see/ It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out/ It doesn't matter much to me_…"

Rhino, as usual, was watching over the magic box with Penny's mom when they heard knocking on the front door. Penny's mom opened the door revealing a stranger at the front. "Morning Ma'am."

"Is it here?"

"It's being moved from the truck." He then handed over a clipboard and a pen. "Sign here please." She grabbed the pen and wrote her signature.

Rhino wondered about what the fuss was going on when Bolt and the others arrived. "Rhino, what's going on?" Mittens asked.

"I don't know. Must be one of them packages."

"That can't be good."

Bolt and Penny walked nearer to Penny's mom. "Mom, what's going on?" She asked. Bolt went to the delivery man and sniffed over the man's shoes. "It's the new printer I ordered from the computer store in town."

"We have a printer now?" Penny said excitedly.

"Yes Miss. The printer is just outside and is being moved now from the delivery truck. Oh and before I forget, please enjoy the complementary game that came with the purchase." The delivery man handed over the game to Penny.

"Call of War 4: Sleight of Hand Pro?"

This is ridonculous, Mittens thought. "And here we go again."

THE END

_SAS_

"_Domination_"

_5_… _4_… _3_… _2_… _1_…

"_Capture the objectives_"

Moments into the game, the player camped seeing the enemy out in the wide open field. The player got his sniper rifle ready and pretty much got a head shot from the guy. The player then moved to another spotting location hoping to get the 7-killstreak but was unable to when he blew up for no reason at all. The killcam then appeared replaying how he died. The guy made a 360 spin before blowing the grenade launcher mounted on his rifle. The grenade flew aimlessly high above before landing down on Bolt's character.

"Friggin' NOOb tuber!" Bolt barked out.

"Wags, what did you promise me about the computer? Hmmm…" Mittens was at his back. Bolt was surprised. "Uh… right." He quickly jumped to the ground. "Let's go, Mittens."

"Good. Now let's go outside. I'm sure looking forward to one game of fetch the stick…"

They leave Penny's room talking about what they were going to do today with anticipation and head downstairs to go outside, leaving the computer on and the game going.

"_Changing mag!_"

"_Prikroy Menya!_"

"_We lost Alpha!_"

"_GRANATA!_"

"_Enemy Hind inbound._"

"Everyone that kills you is a hacker. And everyone you kill is a noob."

- _Anonymous_

A/N: Hey, this is just for fun. Can anyone guess name of the song from the lyrics somewhere around the start of the chapter?


End file.
